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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 9, 2020 21:46:35 GMT
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 10, 2020 8:32:39 GMT
THE LAST HUNTER 1980 Italian "sequel" to The Deer Hunter with a dash of Apocalypse Now thrown in for good measure. Basically a macaroni Vietnam war action movie with David Warbeck on a mission to blow up a radio communication station that is broadcasting "Tokyo Rose" style propaganda to the troops. The twist surprise here is actually rather amusing with its Deer Hunter inspiration and director "Anthony Dawson" aka Antonio Margheriti makes great use of miniatures to boost the production look of the film. Just don't expect Oscar-winning dialogue. It is more of the "die you fucking slut!" variety.
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Post by teleadm on Nov 10, 2020 18:26:44 GMT
I liked this movie. An older Swedish export was also in it, Viveca Lindfors, in one of her last movies.
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Post by Nalkarj on Nov 11, 2020 4:03:44 GMT
I just finished The House of the Arrow (1953; dir. Michael Anderson). It’s a serviceable little murder mystery anchored by a fine central performance from Oskar Homolka—but it’s not really any more than serviceable, which is too bad because A.E.W. Mason’s book is so good. Mostly that’s because of Anderson’s direction, which feels leisurely and, in all honest, kind of dull, mostly full of long-held medium shots. While the screenwriter does a solid job simplifying and explaining Mason’s complex plot, he doesn’t hide the murderer’s identity well—I think. It’s hard to tell because I read the book years ago. Simply put, the film is never terrible, but it’s never terribly good either. I’m happy I saw it just to satisfy curiosity, but I can’t particularly recommend it, unfortunately.
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 11, 2020 7:50:56 GMT
THE TERRIBLE PEOPLE 1960 - Edgar Wallace krimi, Joachim Fuchsberger, Karin Dor, Fritz Rasp, and Eddi Arent. Not bad -atmospheric, although I guess the killer's identity early.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 11, 2020 21:53:50 GMT
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Post by kijii on Nov 12, 2020 5:40:34 GMT
The Ice Storm (1997) / Ang Lee
Beautifully filmed, this film symbolically presents (as the title might suggest) things about to go very wrong. Most of the film shows the potential of dangerous behaviors. It all unfolds slowly but very effectively...
Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) : [narration] In issue 141 of the Fantastic Four, published in November, 1973, Reed Richards had to use his anti-matter weapon on his own son, who Aannihilus has turn into the Human Atom Bomb. It was a typical predicament for the Fantastic Four, because they weren't like other superheroes. They were more like a family. And the more power they had, the more harm they could do to each other without even knowing it. That was the meaning of the Fantastic Four: that a family is like your own personal anti-matter. Your family is the void you emerge from, and the place you return to when you die. And that's the paradox - the closer you're drawn back in, the deeper into the void you go.
Wikepdia Plot Synopsis with SPOILERS: Set over Thanksgiving weekend, 1973, the film centers around two families: the Hoods (Ben and Elena and their children, Paul and Wendy) and their neighbors, the Carvers (Jim and Janey, and their children, Mikey and Sandy).
Ben, dissatisfied in his marriage and with the futility of his career, is having an affair with Janey. Elena is bored with her life and is looking to expand her thinking but is unsure of how to do so. Wendy enjoys sexual games with her school peers, as well as both Carver boys. Paul has fallen for a classmate, Libbets, at the boarding school he attends, though his roommate Francis is also interested in her.
On the Friday night after Thanksgiving, Ben and Elena have an argument when she learns of his affair with Janey, but they go ahead with their plans to attend a neighborhood party, which turns out to be a "key party", where married couples swap sexual partners by having wives select other husbands' keys from a bowl; Jim and Janey are also there. As the party progresses, Ben becomes drunk. When Janey chooses the keys of a handsome young man, Ben attempts to protest but trips and knocks his head on the coffee table, leading Jim to realize that his wife and Ben are having an affair. Ben, in his embarrassment, retreats to the bathroom where he remains for the rest of the evening. The remaining key party participants are paired off and leave together with only Jim and Elena remaining. She retrieves Jim's keys from the bowl and returns them to him. After debating the issue, Jim and Elena leave together, engaging in a quick, clumsy sexual encounter in the front seat of Jim's car. Jim, regretting the line he and Elena have just crossed, offers to drive her home.
Wendy decides to make her way to the Carvers' to see Mikey, but he has decided to go out into the ice storm, so she and Sandy climb into bed together and remove their clothes. They drink from a bottle of vodka and Wendy tries to seduce him, but they both fall asleep.
Paul is invited to Libbets' apartment in Manhattan, though upon arriving, is disappointed to learn that Francis was also invited. The three drink beer and listen to music; Francis and Libbets also take prescription pills found in Libbets' mother's medicine cabinet, causing them to eventually pass out. Paul decides to leave, just narrowly making the train to New Canaan.
Meanwhile, Mikey, out walking in the storm, is enchanted by the beauty of the trees and fields covered in ice. He slides down an icy hill then sits on a guardrail to rest. A moment later a power line, broken by a fallen tree, connects with the guardrail and he is electrocuted.
Jim and Elena become stuck, due to a downed tree, and return to the Carvers' house as dawn is breaking. Elena walks in on her daughter in bed with Sandy and tells her to get dressed. Janey returns home and curls up on her bed in the fetal position without bothering to take off her party clothes.
Ben has sobered up by this time and begins driving home. He discovers Mikey's body on the side of the road and carries it back to the Carvers' house. The two families are drawn together by Mikey's death and Wendy hugs the shocked and numbed Sandy in an attempt to comfort him. Jim is devastated while Janey remains asleep and oblivious to the recent events. Ben, Elena, and Wendy then drive to the train station to pick up Paul, whose train was delayed by the ice and the power failure caused by the downed wire. Once all four are together in the car, Ben breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably at the wheel as Elena comforts him while Paul watches with no emotions.
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Nov 13, 2020 0:20:20 GMT
Kingdom of Haven (2005) Directors Cut
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Post by kijii on Nov 13, 2020 5:37:14 GMT
Satan Met a Lady (1936) / William Dieterle
Between Roy Del Ruth's The Maltese Falcon (1931) and John Huston's The Maltese Falcon (1941), Dashiell Hammett's novel was used for this mad-cap comedy.
Madame Barabbas (Alison Skipworth): Oh, that's very good. I mistrust a man who says he isn't working for himself. Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941): I distrust a man who says "when." If he's got to be careful not to drink too much, it's because he's not to be trusted when he does.
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 13, 2020 8:13:19 GMT
THE MAN FROM CAIRO 1953 - George Raft surprises Irene Papas in a bathtub-later when she turns up strangled he is present in the room when Gianna Maria Canale walks in, but she later gives him an alibi. It's kind of a remake of Casablanca but instead of letters of transit they are looking for gold.
DEADFALL 1968 - Michael Caine is a jewel thief.So that's what John Barry looks like. I kind of assumed he must be the composer given the extended orchestra scene. It's rather effective, as well as Caine's improvised method of getting away with the jewels! A slow burner though.
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Post by bradybunchfan on Nov 13, 2020 9:59:21 GMT
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
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Post by persistenceofvision on Nov 13, 2020 21:53:13 GMT
The Kremlin Letter. Absurd but entertaining spy movie regarded as the nadir of John Huston's directing career by people who haven't seen Phobia. Worth watching for the photography and the sight of George Sanders playing piano in a drag bar.
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Post by kijii on Nov 14, 2020 5:01:46 GMT
Night Crossing (1982) / Delbert Mann
Günter Wetzel (Beau Bridges): People have always laughed at the great ideas. Doris Strelzyk (Jane Alexander): You want us to climb into a balloon and float away to West Germany? Petra Wetzel (Glynnis O'Connor): Come on. It isn't funny to make jokes about going to the West. Doris Strelzyk: They're not joking.
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 14, 2020 8:11:23 GMT
I love the Kremlin Letter!
BUCK PRIVATES 1940 --Been a while since I watched this. Some of the jokes take on new meaning like when Abbott is telling Costello the bit about marrying a ten year old girl. Joining the US Army in those days was so much fun too. Lots of laughs to be had, and so many women they have in the barracks-some are even great singers who can launch into an impromptu dance number when you least expect it--even the cook is a music hall Caruso when he has to be. A few classic Abbott and Costello skits and good golly the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B is a truly memorable musical number. They could have set up a stage on the western front and started singing that and all the guns would stop firing to listen I bet.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 14, 2020 14:04:23 GMT
I liked this movie. An older Swedish export was also in it, Viveca Lindfors, in one of her last movies. Yes, I quite like it too. I hadn't watched it in a long time. This was one of those instances where a movie was spun-off into a successful TV series ( Stargate SG-1). Know I can always count on you to provide some interesting tidbits of Swedish trivia, teleadm.
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Nov 14, 2020 14:05:06 GMT
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Post by Nalkarj on Nov 15, 2020 3:30:43 GMT
Now here’s an odd one. The Limehouse Golem (2016; dir. Juan Carlos Medina). The plot is kinda hard to describe, but it’s basically Jack the Ripper crossed with the Charles Bravo case crossed with a look at music-hall culture and Victorian hypocrisy. It starts off as a murder mystery—suspects include real-life figures such as female impersonator Dan Leno, novelist George Gissing, and no-introduction-needed Karl Marx—but quickly focuses on the life story of the only fictional suspect’s wife. Does that make sense? As I said, hard to describe. I’m having a hard time making up my mind as to whether it’s good or not. For long stretches, Jane Goldman’s script is a mess: the setup is confusing, and Goldman spends way too much time on a murder mystery about which she clearly doesn’t care at all. That mystery is laughably obvious; I accurately guessed the BIG TWIST within the first 20 mins., and I suspect most viewers will as well. Juan Carlos Medina’s direction is indistinctive—not noticeably poor, but never quite bringing Victorian London to life or even providing much atmosphere to his mystery/horror material. Bill Nighy is usually a good actor, but he’s horrible here: he seems utterly uninvested in his material. The part was intended for an even better actor, Alan Rickman, who had to bow out because of the cancer that would kill him. I have no doubt Rickman would have done a better job. So all this seems like it should be a slam. And yet… I don’t know. When the script stops focusing on the mystery and starts giving flashbacks into the Olivia Cooke character’s life, everything picks up: direction (Medina apparently directs theatrical better than spooky), writing (lots of funny bawdy music-hall pastiche), acting (Nighy’s not in these scenes). Douglas Booth, who plays Dan Leno, is really very good. The theatrical atmosphere (behind and in front of the curtain) is first-rate. The criticism of Victorian treatment of women is clear but not heavy-handed ( Sherlock’s Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss should take notes). It’s all highly entertaining. And it ends well, summing up the themes it’s been touching on throughout. The twist is obvious, as mentioned, and the killer’s barely-explained motive is ridiculous, but then it returns to the musical hall, and its final image is memorable and fitting. So I guess on the whole I liked it. But don’t go in expecting a spooky Ripper-like mystery, as the ads (and even my plot description above) promise. That’s the hook, but it’s clearly not what the director or writer really cared about. As a tale of the theater à la All About Eve, however, it’s satisfying and entertaining.
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Post by kijii on Nov 15, 2020 5:17:28 GMT
Dolores Claiborne (1995) / Taylor Hackford
Yet another dark mystery based on a Stephen King novel, this one peals back the past between a mother and her adult daughter when the daughter returns to Maine to defend her mother in a murder inquiry. I love the way this relates the current story in dark shades and flashes back to the past in brighter colors. There are several elements revealed to the observers (us) as this story unfolds. Masterfully done, ranking up with the very best of the Stephen King-based movies!!!
Set on an island off the Maine coast, Mainer Stephen King gives us another mystery in an isolated location-a place that lives in the past and never forgets. It's also a place that one can often hide from the past, even if Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer) is obsessed with it.
Selena St. George (Jennifer Jason Leigh) : Eighteen years ago, my father drank a bottle of scotch and fell down a well. Detective Mackey didn't think it was an accident, which is... why we're here today. Det. John Mackey (Christopher Plummer) : And what do you think, Selena? Selena St. George : I think I owe you an apology. I called you a son of a bitch. You said you thought we were a lot alike, and you were right. We both spent the past 18 years prosecuting this woman. We came out here- I know I did- believing she was guilty. We forgot this case is about Vera Donovan. Not my father. Det. John Mackey : And what if it wasn't an accident? Selena St. George : Look. It's been 18 years. I don't know what this has done to you, but let me tell you, it's consumed me. I have lived with this every day of my life. Every day. I was wrong and I won't do it anymore. And if I can say that, my God, can't you?
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 15, 2020 7:54:47 GMT
THE MEDUSA TOUCH 1978 "I am the man with the power to create catastrophe." When Richard Burton says it, it doesn't come off as hokey. He's quite effective here although the movie itself feels kind of chaotic, like a falling cathedral. Highlight is the insult monologue directed at his wife.
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Post by bradybunchfan on Nov 15, 2020 9:43:34 GMT
Blazing Saddles, Caddyshack, and Friday the 13th
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